Tutor
by GrimmUlquigrrrl
Summary: Grimmjow is a senior in need of some serious academic help, and he runs across absolutely the CUTEST tutor ever... plus, he's really smart and nice. But no-one, not even Grimmjow, can tell at first just how much they would be intertwined. GrimmUlqui, AU
1. Chapter 1

Grimmjow sat, glaring at his chemistry homework, in the large room that served as the detention hall. That wasn't why he was here, though, not this time. During lunch and after school all week long, the kids from National Honors Society who were in need of another community service project tutored anyone who came in.

Yes, Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, the best wide receiver on the Hueco Mundo Hawks' football team, needed tutoring. He was about to lose his eligibility, and two months into senior year with your whole future banked on the full ride you've got for sports, being unable to play was a really bad thing. So there he was, waiting for one of the three or four tutors to get around to him and urging his science to spontaneously combust in the meantime. Except then he'd have to do the paucity of what he'd already done over again. Fuck.

He saw a form coming over to him and looked up hopefully. Were they coming to him? Maybe? Op, no, they were veering off. Ooo, but there was someone else behind them, and they were headed straight for Grimmjow. Yeah, definitely coming right for him.

Grimmjow looked him over. He was pretty sure he knew who this kid was. Ulquiorra Schiffer, a kid in his class who'd studied abroad in Austria for a year. He was pretty well-known as a brainiac. Grimmjow looked him over. For a brainiac he was seriously cute; his black shirt, layered with a green-and-black striped long sleeved shirt underneath, nicely accented his slim form and flat chest, and his black skinny jeans did the same for his long, lanky legs. His face was heart-shaped and pale, framed by jagged-cut, chin-length black hair, and he had kissably plump black and white lips he was wearing a pair of green-rimmed square glasses that were the same shade of emerald as his eyes. Dayamn.

Grimmjow smiled as the other boy came over to him, crouching in front of his desk. "Hey," grimmjow said, and was rewarded by an adorably small, lopsided smile. He had the feeling that smile was purely out of politeness, but it was still really cute. "You're Ulquiorra, right? Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, nice to meet you." Ulquiorra blinked his big eyes before smiling a little more believably.

"Yes I am," he said, "nice to meet you as well. So, you're working on chemistry?" he asked, looking down at Grimmjow's one and a half finished problems and open textbook. He had a nice middle tenor voice, definitely a male voice even though he almost looked like a girl if you saw only his face.

"Yeah," Grimmjow said glumly. "I get most of it, like, chemically, but I'm _really _bad at math."

"Math is actually easier in science than it is in actual math class once you get your head around it," Ulquiorra said. "Your problems seem o be where to put what, and that's actually really easy to fix. Hold on a minute." He stood up, grabbed a folding aluminum chair from the spattering around and dragging it over, setting it in front of Grimmjow's desk before sitting back down. Grimmjow watched how he moved all gracefully.

Ulquiorra sat down, leaning over Grimmjow's paper. He just looked at it for a moment, then pushed his glasses up a little farther on his little button nose, (which Grimmjow thought was absolutely the cutest thing) and pointed at the very beginning of the second, half-finished problem. "Here, you see how you put the feet over the yards? Why did you do that?"

"Well, because that's what I did here," Grimmjow said, pointing to the figure before that one, which was the conversion factor of feet to yards.

"But then yards over miles is your answer," Ulquiorra said, "and you just want yards. Try flipping one."

"But... Then I have feet times yards over yards times miles," Grimmjow said, leaning down and getting his face closer to the paper, "and then I have feet over miles, and how does that work?"

"Well, like this, it- well, I guess you can't really see it the way you've been setting up your problems," Ulquiorra said. "Here, let me see it for a second." He flipped the paper around, grabbing a pencil out of his pants pocket and Grimmjow noticed that he painted his fingernails black. Grimmjow wasn't sure how many more times he could think the word cute before this session was over.

Ulquiorra stooped over the paper for a minute, scrawling, then straightened up and flipped the paper so that it faced Grimmjow again. "Here, try this," he said. Grimmjow stared at it. Instead of being in steps, Ulquiorra had made it one long equation of fractions all multiplied by each other. Holy fuck. "It isn't as difficult as it looks," Ulquiorra said quickly. "Actually, this helps you know where to put things.

"See, if we have yards on top in one and then yards on bottom in the next, we know that will cancel out so we can just cross those off, leaving us with miles over feet. Now see how feet is on the top in the next one? That way the feet cancel out too, can you see it?" Grimmjow did see it, the pattern, which meant that he could cross off grams here. "Yes," Ulquiorra said as he saw Grimmjow do it. "See how that works? You end up with miles in the end."

"And that helps me know how to put what number where because they have to cancel like that," Grimmjow said. "That makes so much more sense! Dude, you should teach the chemistry class, you're way better than our teacher." Ulquiorra just shook his head like he got that all the time.

"You can plug in the whole line of numbers into your calculator at the same time," he said. "If you put all the fractions in parentheses you don't have to press the multiplication sign between each one. The calculator will know what you want it to do." Grimmjow smiled widely (and hopefully charmingly, but just in a friendly way 'cuz it could be creepy otherwise) at him.

"Thanks a ton," he said, turning on his calculator and swiftly inputting the numbers. God, he loved calculators. Anything that did the tough stuff for him he was fond of, really.

"I'll wait while you do the next problem just to be sure it makes sense," Ulquiorra said, and Grimmjow was pretty happy about that. That opened the door for a little conversation. As he jotted down the answer for the first question, he picked something he figured was pretty safe but not bland.

"So," he asked, "do you mind me asking you if those tears are tattoos or makeup, or would that be rude of me?" He looked up and flashed a winning smile, just in case it _was_ rude. Ulquiorra's mouth twitched up just a little at the corners. _Yes._

"Not at all," Ulquiorra said as Grimmjow looked back to his work. "It doesn't matter which one you put on top for the first one, just the ones after," he pointed out, then said, "Right now, they're just makeup- don't laugh, yes I wear makeup- but when I turn eighteen I intend to get them tattooed on."

"I'm not laughing," Grimmjow said with a little smile. It was a kind of a promise. "If you wanna have something tattooed on your face, it probably means something to you. I don't make fun of things that mean things to other people. So, do you tutor like this every day?" There were two reasons for the change in subject: to give Ulquiorra the feeling that he didn't have to say anything if he didn't want to and to keep Grimmjow from finding out. It was his firm belief that you had to get to know a person to the point of being able to order food for them before uncovering the more intimate parts of their past.

"No, just Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays," Ulquiorra replied with a touch of gratefulness in his voice. "But I tutor just about every subject."

"Yeah?" Grimmjow smiled. "I wouldn't put it beyond you. So, you take your break in the middle of the week? Smart."

"Well, Tuesdays I have JCL during lunch," Ulquiorra said. "And there are a lot of tutors in here on Wednesdays, so I figured I wasn't needed."

"JCL, that's..." Grimmjow snapped his fingers as he tried to call it up from his mind. He knew what it was, really.

"Junior Classical League," Ulquiorra supplied.

"Latin nerds," Grimmjow smiled.

"You got it," Ulquiorra smiled back. "So let me see your answer... Yes, that's correct. Does this make more sense now?"

"A ton more," Grimmjow said. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem," Ulquiorra said. "I'm going to leave you to this, but if you have any questions just ask me, I'll be happy to help."

"Alright," Grimmjow said, "thanks again. See you later." He was thrilled when Ulquiorra gave him a little smile.

"Probably," he said, standing up. "Have a good day."

"You too," Grimmjow said as Ulquiorra walked off to another kid in the back row. Grimmjow chuckled. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, huh? Grimmjow knew when he would be coming in.

...

... ...

He just could't get over how cute that boy was!


	2. Chapter 2

Grimmjow made sure to sit close to the front, with his math book open on his desk. He was one of the only three people in the room, he figured because no one wanted to spend a Friday afternoon at school when they should be at home, but that was better for him. It meant more quality one-on-one time with Ulquiorra, who was just walking in then and looked so darn cute. He was wearing acid-wash skinny jeans, a chest hugging, v-neck plain black shirt, and green converse. Add his square glasses, and he looked so...biteable.

Ulquiorra saw him and gave a little smile, dropping his apparently very heavy backpack in the corner as the other tutor for the day came walking in. Grimmjow smiled back, and Ulquiorra grabbed a chair and made a beeline for him- which was exciting as hell for Grimmjow, because it meant that Ulquiorra remembered him from Monday. Better than that, Ulquiorra smiled at him, so he remembered _and_ liked him. Grimmjow told himself not to seem too eager. Ulquiorra didn't seem like the kind of guy to just fall for someone, and the information digging Grimmjow had done backed that up, and Grimmjow really didn't want to wreck it.

"Hey, Ulquiorra," he said casually as Ulquiorra unfolded his chair and sat down. "How ya doin'?"

"I'm pretty good, thanks," Ulquiorra replied. "How about you?"

"Confused," Grimmjow admitted. "As I'm sure you've figured out, math is not my strong suit."

"You're taking a math this year?" Ulquiorra asked. "Does your major of choice require it?"

"No," Grimmjow said, "but I failed this course last year so if I don't retake it then I can't graduate. Trouble is, even after hearing it for a second time it still doesn't make a lick of sense."

"Is Mr. Versaw your teacher?" Ulquiorra asked, and Grimmjow nodded. "I'll admit, math comes easily to me, but I had a hard time in his class. He's just not the best teacher," Ulquiorra said sympathetically. Grimmjow gave him a comically surprised look.

"Math comes easily to you?" he asked. "What planet do you come from, and how do I get citizenship?" Ulquiorra chuckled.

"Texas," he said. "Definitely a different planet." Grimmjow laughed.

"Yeah, where the main staples are fried pies and Coca-Cola," he said. Ulquiorra had the most _adorable_ lopsided smile, like he didn't smile all that often.

"That's offensive," he said. "Everyone knows that Texans drink Pepsi." They laughed together, and Grimmjow got the feeling that man, they could have good chemistry. "So, just talk through with me what you're having trouble with."

"Gee, where to start..."

.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.

"I'm telling you, bro, he's freaking adorable," Grimmjow said, and his brother's bubble popped. The sound was muted over videochat, and for a second it drowned out the sound of the ocean that was constantly underlying their conversation. His brother was in California for college, planning to be a marine biologist, and he looked the part. Long, dirty blonde hair tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck, angular face, tan skin, built body, sparkling brown eyes. Grimmjow had always been really close to his oldest sibling, his only brother, and they set aside time to videochat once a month.

"He sounds like it," Zac said. "Do you think he digs you?"

"I can't tell," Grimmjow said. "He seems to like me more than anyone else as far as I've seen, and I can make him laugh. That's good, right?"

"Yeah," Zac said, "if you want to be friendzoned. Kick it up! Make sure he knows you're into him." Grimmjow frowned.

"But he's really kind of reserved," he said. "He doesn't really have any friends, and he's never dated. Our school is K-12, and he's been here the whole time. Nobody knows much about him, since he's the quiet, intelligent type, except for the fact that when he was a sophomore a girl tried to kiss him and he pinned her. And he knew _her_ for years! I highly doubt he would react well to someone he's just met hitting on him, no matter how much he likes me." Zac hummed. "I think I _have_ to go through the friendzone if I want to get closer."

"Grimmjow, you _never_ get out of the friendzone once you're in," Zac said. "Even if you both have feelings of wanting more, you'll both be too scared to screw your friendship over. Trust me." Grimmjow knit his brow. "Anyway, dude, do what you think is right. I agree, he's not gonna be easy to get, but...well, I've got nothing. But it sounds like you're really crushing on him, and you like him as a person, so just follow your gut."

"Thanks, Zac," Grimmjow sighed. Man, this was a mess. "Anyway, how did your 21st birthday go over? You throw a real frat boy party?"

"Yeah," Zac said, "and missed all my classes the next day. It was crazy. But I'm glad I did it, 'cuz I know the party on the home front will be more tame. You know how mom is about beer."

"No," Grimmjow said, "no I do not. Care to tell me that story?"

"No, no I do not," Zac replied. "And you, sir, are a goody-two-shoe. But you're not really missing much. Drinking is fun, being drunk is awesome, getting over it is so not worth it. It's one of those things that you have to try once, but then you never want to do it again. Unless you're a retard, then you become an alcoholic- but you're not a retard, so you won't have to worry about it."

"I'll remember that," Grimmjow said. "Have you seen Hally?" Hally, or Hallibel to the rest of the world, was a sophomore in college and was their sister. She may have been the middle child, but she was also the only girl so their dad spoiled her like crazy. But she was really mellow, and she never asked for stuff unless it was something important. She was always calm, cool and collected, and she was at the same college as Zac.

"You kidding me?" Zac scoffed. "A double major in marine biology and engineering don't have no time."

Oh yeah, and she was an overachiever.

"Yeah, she probably has a ton of work to do," Grimmjow said. "Didn't she just get a weekend job too?"

"Baby-sitting the dean's kids," Zac affirmed. "Best way to get brownie points, hands-down."

"You know she could care less about that," Grimmjow said. "But I feel bad for her, doing all that. Does she have a life?"

"Doubtful," Zac said. "Hey, my roomie just walked in. Say hey!" A grinning Asian guy poked his head into the picture, waving at Grimmjow familiarly.

"Hey, Dan," Grimmjow said.

"Hey, little bro," Dan said. Dan and Joshua, Zac's other, more serious roommate, always called Grimmjow that. It was like they'd adopted him into their family. It was funny. Dan left the screen, but Grimmjow could still see him doing stuff in the background.

"Well, I've got to go," Zac said. "Term papers suck. Talk to you later."

"Later," Grimmjow said. "See you in a week for that 'tame' party."

"Tame is good," Zac said. "Good luck with your crush."

"Thanks, Zac. Good luck with your term paper." Zac smiled.

"Thanks. Later, Grimmjow." Zac shut his computer, and Grimmjow's screen went black. Grimmjow sighed. Zac had never been wrong in his advice before, but for once Grimmjow hoped he was. Grimmjow closed his PC. He had some homework of his own to work on.


	3. Chapter 3

Grimmjow was late, late, late! His seventh period teacher had held their class period fifteen minutes long, thanks to a time-wasting lecture about not wasting time, and now Grimmjow was jogging down the hallway with his bag bouncing on his back trying to get to the study hall room. On Wednesdays Ulquiorra was the only tutor after school, and if the room was crowded sometimes he only had a few minutes with the oh-so-attractive other man.

He burst through a group of loitering freshmen, turning to the door and running through; and careening straight into someone shorter than him who was leaving. Grimmjow had been going faster, and the person hit his chest, bounced off, and then was hit again as Grimmjow fell forward. "Woa-" Both he and the other person fell to the ground, and Grimmjow heard a whoosh of air as the other's breath was pushed out of him; even though Grimmjow didn't hit the floor, contact was hard.

Grimmjow pushed himself up and looked down, opening his mouth to apologize profusely and see if the other person was okay. He felt his cheeks heating; he couldn't _believe_ he'd just done that in front of Ulquiorra! He turned his eyes down to the person he'd just mowed over- and was completely mortified. He hadn't just knocked somebody over in front of Ulquiorra- he'd knocked _Ulquiorra_ over. Oh shit!

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" he said, scrambling up. God, now Ulquiorra was going to think he was an ass. "I'm sorry. Do you need some help getting up?" He knelt next to Ulquiorra, who was still on the ground flat on his back, and holding out his hand. Ulquiorra didn't respond, laying his hand over his stomach just under his ribcage and wincing. Grimmjow knit his brow. "Ulquiorra?"

Ulquiorra still didn't respond, shaking his head slowly as his mouth opened and closed and opened again, but no sound came out. He wasn't even breathing. Grimmjow felt a harsh spike of panicked worry; he must have knocked Ulquiorra's air out of him. "Okay, here, here," Grimmjow said, holding Ulquiorra's arm and doing his best to speak gently, if quickly. "Just relax, Ulquiorra. Just release." He knew how much it could hurt when your body and mind both said to breathe and your lungs were paralyzed.

There were a couple more seconds of soundless gaping, Ulquiorra's body as stiff as a board and Grimmjow internally freaking out, and then Ulquiorra inhaled a short gasp. "Good, good, there," Grimmjow encouraged as Ulquiorra took a longer breath. That seemed to break the spell, and Ulquiorra started breathing heavily. Grimmjow rubbed his arm soothingly. "There, you got it," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ulquiorra said thinly, nodding as he slowly propped himself up on an arm. Grimmjow helped him.

"Are you sure?" Grimmjow asked worriedly, guilt seeping in as he realized that he'd really just hurt the poor boy. "I can go get the nurse."

"I'm fine, Grimmjow, really," Ulquiorra said, his voice stronger. "Don't worry about it." That only made Grimmjow feel like more of a slug. There he went, bowling over a totally innocent and really nice guy, and the nice guy is so nice that he tells _him_ not to worry about it? God, Grimmjow felt like an ass!

"Are you sure?" Grimmjow asked again. "I'm _so_ sorry, Ulquiorra, really, I-"

"Grimmjow, really, I'm perfectly fine," Ulquiorra cut him off. "It wasn't your fault. I'm not upset at all. Really." Grimmjow's face sunk more. "I'd feel like a horrible person is you went to any more trouble over this." Oh, God, was there no end to the guilt trip?

"_I'm_ the one who should feel like a horrible person," Grimmjow said. "I can't believe I just plowed into you like that." Ulquiorra started to stand, and Grimmjow leapt up to help him.

"It's not like you were trying to," Ulquiorra reasoned. "And you're not a horrible person. You're one of the only people who comes in here that isn't irate over the fact that they need a little academic help. I really appreciate that you're always so cheerful." Grimmjow blinked. As much as he still felt like a douche, that was the first time that Ulquiorra had actually stated that he liked Grimmjow. Grimmjow marked it as an Important Event. He jumped to grab Ulquiorra's things off the floor as Ulquiorra made to, stopping him in his tracks.

"You just sit down for a second," Grimmjow said. "I've got your stuff."

"Grimmjow, you're really getting too worked up over this," Ulquiorra said. "It hurt for a few seconds, but I'm fine now."

"But it hurt for a few seconds," Grimmjow said. "Just let me get it, or I really will feel like a horrible person. Whether you think I am one or not. Hey, here are your glasses." he didn't mention that he was already convinced of his horrible-ness.

"Thanks," Ulquiorra said, taking the glasses as they were handed to him and sliding them on. Grimmjow was surprised that he hadn't noticed before that they'd fallen off. He wished he could have more time to etch the image into his mind, but the glasses were already perched back on Ulquiorra's cute little button-nose and Grimmjow couldn't even remember what Ulquiorra had looked like without them now. That was just how used to the glasses he was.

"So how bad is your eyesight?" Grimmjow asked conversational, trying to steer the talk elsewhere as he plopped Ulquiorra's bookbag down by the desk Ulquiorra was now sitting in.

"It's pretty decent," Ulquiorra said. "I have an astigmatism. A little fuzzy, and I can't read street signs until I'm right on top of them, but I can see pretty well without my glasses. So, I would assume you came for tutoring?"

"Yeah," Grimmjow said, pulling over a chair the way Ulquiorra usually did. "Were you leaving as I came?" Ulquiorra shrugged.

"There wasn't anyone here, so I figured I could."

"Is it alright if you stay?" Grimmjow asked.

"Of course," Ulquiorra said. "I would prefer it, actually. What did you need help with?"

"Hemingway," Grimmjow said. "I can't find _any_ of the symbolism my teacher keeps talking about in this book."

"_Farewell to Arms?"_ Ulquiorra asked. "Yeah, it's kind of weird. Want to start with the characters?"

"Yeah, sure," Grimmjow said. "Hit me."

"Well, each main character represents a worldview present during this time period," Ulquiorra said, looking straight at Grimmjow, and Grimmjow was surprised by how bare he felt. Usually there was a book or something between them, and often Ulquiorra would be looking down at it and glancing up every now and again to be sure Grimmjow was following. Having those big green eyes trained only on him was slightly terrifying- but exhilarating. "For instance, Rinaldi personifies hedonism."

"Heda-hudu-what-now?" Grimmjow asked, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. He had never even _heard_ of that. Ulquiorra blinked.

"You don't know the worldviews?" he asked. "Well, that would do it. During the World War I era, something called nihilism popped up, and everything else is an offset of that."

"The -ism of nothing?" Grimmjow asked, immediately recognizing the Greek root word. Ulquiorra nodded.

"Exactly," Ulquiorra said. "Nihilism is the idea that the universe is completely random and there is no governing force. Many nihilists were atheists. Because of this philosophy, nihilists believe that death is permanent and life is fleeting, and therefore nothing that a man can do with his life will make a difference. We mean nothing to the universe. An excellent example is the death of Aymo."

"The guy that got shot by his own army during a retreat because they thought he was a German from far away?" Grimmjow asked.

"That's the guy," Ulquiorra said. "Also, Rinaldi's contracting syphilis shows nihilism as well. At that point in time there were no antibiotics, and syphilis was a death sentence. Both of these men are soldiers, but neither dies on account of the actual enemy; random circumstance does them in. There's also a lot of irony in Aymo's death, since he was killed by his own people.

"Existentialism came out of nihilism. Existentialists also believed that the universe was random, and that there was no set of rules by which to live their lives. Therefore, they decided that they would make their own rules and live by them. Hemingway himself was an existentialist, and his set of rules was to put as many obstacles in front of himself as possible and prove his worth by overcoming them. Existentialists feared nothing- except for death, because it was the only obstacle they could not overcome. Catherine Barkley represents existential views, because she makes her whole existence around Frederick Henry, making him her set of rules. She even says at one point that he is her religion."

"Doesn't get much more hardcore than that," Grimmjow said.

"No it does not," Ulquiorra agreed. "I mentioned hedonism, which is a lot like existentialism in many ways. Hedonists also try to create their own set of rules, and the rules are pretty much 'eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die.' Once again, there's this idea of a random universe in which anything can happen."

"Can you imagine that?" Grimmjow asked, shaking his head. "Waking up every morning with the firm knowledge and belief that it could be your last day on earth? And if they were all pretty much atheistic then they didn't believe in life after death...gah. No wonder everyone was so depressed."

"Well, the first World War was the war to end all wars," Ulquiorra said. "Especially American soldiers had a hard time readjusting back home, because all of the fighting took place in Europe. No one back home could understand what they went through. That's why Hemingway and so many other great Americans of that time went back to Europe."

"Yeah, that I remember," Grimmjow said. "Have you seen _Midnight in Paris?_ That's what it's all about."

"I saw the majority of it," Ulquiorra said, "not the very end. It does look promising, though. So, do you have the major worldviews down now?"

"I think so," Grimmjow said. "So, like, the scene with the battle police, where they're shooting Italian officers under suspicion of being Germans in Italian uniform, would that show nihilism? Because that's such a meaningless way to die?"

"Exactly," Ulquiorra said. "I think you've got it. Can you describe a Hemingway hero?"

"A man who is larger-than-life, honestly humble, has grace under pressure and threat of death, and thinks of others first in dangerous situations. Like when Frederick Henry and his crew were bombed, eh helped the other men and said to let them go ahead of him because they were more injured. Then he denied having done anything heroic. He thought he was just doing what had to be done."

"That's where he says he was just bombed while eating cheese," Ulquiorra said. "That's one of my favorite lines in the whole book. Well done, 100% correct on all counts. Do you understand the symbolism of the rain?"

"Uh, well..." Grimmjow said, scratching his cheek whilst trying to find an answer, "I know Catherine said she was afraid of the rain once."

"Do you remember why?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Because she could see herself or Frederick Henry dead in it," Grimmjow said, and Ulquiorra nodded. "Doesn't it rain a ton in the novel?"

"Wherever anything remotely horrible happens," Ulquiorra confirmed. "Can you describe the kind of relationship that Catherine and Frederick Henry had?"

"It's really weird," Grimmjow said, "almost like a mother/child relationship. There's one time when she wants him to get out of the rain so she holds the door open for him, even though she's pregnant and female and should have gone in first. Then there's the time when she says she'll keep him safe, and at that point in time women really couldn't do much and it was seen as the man's responsibility to protect his wife. It was really kind of messed up."

"Hemingway married women who would take care of him," Ulquiorra said, "just like a mother. That's what he drew on for this. You're completely right, Grimmjow."

"Cool," Grimmjow said. "What else?" Ulquiorra paused for a moment, looking like he was wracking his brain.

"I...don't remember anything else major," he said. "That may be it."

"You read it already?" Grimmjow asked. "Are you a fast reader or something?"

"I'm in AP English," Ulquiorra said. "We read it over the summer."

"So you are a fast reader," Grimmjow grinned. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Ha-ha," Ulquiorra smiled back, even as he glanced above Grimmjow's head at the clock. "Is there anything else you need help with?"

"No, that was it," Grimmjow said.

"Well, how was your day?" Ulquiorra asked. Grimmjow blinked his eyes, feeling a thrill. This was the first time Ulquiorra had ever initiated a conversation with him, not that he wouldn't take part in one apparently gladly. Did this mean he wouldn't hold the whole mowing-him-over thing against him? Grimmjow grinned brightly.

"Pretty good," he replied. "How about you?"

"My day went pretty well, thanks for asking," Ulquiorra said, giving the sweet little lopsided smile that Grimmjow absolutely _adored._ He'd noticed that during straight-up tutoring Ulquiorra was more business, but when they chatted (which Grimmjow tried to do often) Ulquiorra was getting more free with his happy expression. "Though I think the yoghurt they had at lunch was past expiration. Did you have that?"

"No, I bring my own lunch. Tell you the truth, my mommy makes it for me," Grimmjow laughed, blushing a little, but he knew ti was amusing and it's not like it was some great secret. Ulquiorra smiled again.

"Good for you," he said. "The school lunches are decent, but probably not substantial enough for you. Aren't you a football player?"

"Yeah, I'm a wide receiver," Grimmjow replied. "I have a full ride for football, but only if I can keep up my eligibility through the end of the year. Hence why I'm here, leeching off of your genius."

"Don't say that like you're a parasite," Ulquiorra said. "I'm happy to help. What college are you going to?"

"University of California, L.A.," Grimmjow said. "Both my brother and my sister go there."

"Really?" Ulquiorra asked. "UCLA is my second college of choice. If I don't hear back from Pepperdine soon, that's where I'll end up."

"You haven't heard back from your college of choice yet?" Grimmjow asked, surprised. "It's February!"

"I know," Ulquiorra sighed. "I'm not sure what's going on over there, and I'm starting to worry. I'll hold out as long as I can, but eventually I'll have to give up and move on."

"Well, I hope you get into Pepperdine," Grimmjow smiled, "but if not it'd be cool to see you around campus." Ulquiorra smiled back, looking shyly grateful.

"You have siblings?" he asked.

"Yeah, two older," Grimmjow said. "My brother Zac's the oldest, he's a junior, and my sister Hallibel's a sophomore. I was the surprise baby." Ulquiorra chuckled, but Grimmjow saw his eyes dart back up to the clock again. "Oh, sorry, do you have somewhere you need to be?" Grimmjow asked.

"Not really," Ulquiorra said. "Sorry if I'm throwing you off, I just don't want to leave until I absolutely have to." Grimmjow raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, you must have a really dull home front if you love being at school that much," he said.

"You could say that," Ulquiorra agreed a little shyly. "It's just me and my father, and neither of us are horribly talkative."

"Really? Well, I'm sorry if I keep taking you out of your comfort zone," Grimmjow said. Ulquiorra had always responded to his prompts to converse, so he'd always assumed it was okay, but...

"Don't worry about it," Ulquiorra said, "I like to talk with people who are reasonable. But most people aren't, in my experience, so I refrain from speaking with them for my own sake. I'm one of those wallflowers, I guess."

"I don't think you're a wallflower at all," Grimmjow said, internally thrilling that Ulquiorra considered him one of the few people worth talking to. "I think you aren't necessarily a people person, and you don't like crowds, but I think your intellect sets you apart to the people who are lucky enough to know you well." Ulquiorra blinked at him, eyes owlishly wide and adorably surprised, and Grimmjow swore he saw a little color added to those pale cheekbones. He smiled. "I'm not just spouting crap, Ulquiorra. I mean what I say and I say what I mean."

Ulquiorra colored more at the honest praise, looking down with a smile. "That's...very kind of you to say, Grimmjow."

"It's just the truth," Grimmjow said. Ulquiorra smiled more, and his eyes sparkled a little- something Grimmjow had never seen before, and the thought suddenly hit him that he wanted to make Ulquiorra happy like that all the time. Just knowing the other as partially as he did, Grimmjow got the feeling that he could do that if given the chance. "So, back to the beginning: if the school's lunch sucks, why don't you bring your own?"

"I don't have any time in the morning," Ulquiorra said, still red in the face. He seemed glad for the change in subject, probably because he didn't know how to respond, and Grimmjow was fine with that. "I wake up as late as possible, so..."

"Oh, so you're not a morning person?" Grimmjow asked.

"Not at all," Ulquiorra said. "Are you?"

"You bet," Grimmjow said. "I always get up early to work out."

"How early?" Ulquiorra asked, looking stricken. He must _really_ have not liked mornings to have a face like that.

"The Y opens at 5," Grimmjow shrugged. Ulquiorra eyes got big and wide.

"That sounds like torture," he said. "How do you live with that little sleep?"

"I get eight hours," Grimmjow chuckled. "Geez, when do _you_ go to bed?"

He was amazed how easily they talked until Ulquiorra's time was up. They walked out together, and Grimmjow only grudgingly parted ways. Still, driving home, he smiled. He felt like they'd just gotten somewhere on a little deeper level. He really meant what he'd said; somehow, he got the feeling that Ulquiorra knew that too.


	4. Chapter 4

Grimmjow heard someone coming up behind him and stalled in his chewing. He ate his lunch in the off-limits, woodsy area behind the school. It wasn't actually a part of school property, so if he was caught he could be in deep shit for trespassing. But it was probably just one of the guys, so he dismissed it and refocused on spearing one of the grapes in his tupperware with his dinky plastic fork. All the football players knew he ate lunch out here, where it was quiet and peaceful. In front of him there was an embankment of maybe six feet, and at the bottom was a very slow, very small, very shallow, currently very frozen trickle of water that was nice to look at. Of course he would eat here and not in the clamoring lunch room.

"Grimmjow?" a familiar, shy voice asked from behind, and Grimmjow whipped his head around.

"Ulquiorra?" he asked, surprised. "What are you doing out here?"

"You said you ate lunch out here one time," Ulquiorra said, coming down the hill to where Grimmjow sat. "Do you mind if I sit with you?" Grimmjow beamed.

"Not at all!" he said emphatically, scooting over on his log. He'd completely forgotten he'd told Ulquiorra about this place. "You're welcome any time."

"Thanks," Ulquiorra said sweetly, smiling. "How's your day so far?"

"Awesome," Grimmjow said. Actually, it had been totally neutral. But Ulquiorra was eating lunch with him, so it was definitely an out-of-the-park day. "How about yours?"

"Pretty good," Ulquiorra said, sitting down. The log was long enough that they weren't lacking space, but Ulquiorra had opted to sit just close enough for Grimmjow to internally thrill. If he smiled any wider he'd break his face. "What have you got for lunch?"

"Tuna sandwich," Grimmjow said, "what about you?"

"Spaghetti," Ulquiorra said, and Grimmjow looked down. He tried to hide his disgust. That was _not_ spaghetti, or even edible. It looked like they coated twine in glue, put it through a strainer, let in hang limply wherever it wanted, plopped some kind of rubbery shit on top of it, and poured colored water over it to say there was sauce. It looked _disgusting._

"That looks good," Grimmjow said. "Share?" Ulquiorra blinked.

"Sure, if you'd like some," he said.

"Thanks," Grimmjow smiled winningly. "You want the other half of my sandwich or something?"

"If you don't want it," Ulquiorra said.

"Sharing goes both ways," Grimmjow singsonged, fishing aforementioned sandwich half out of his lunch box, which was more wholesome and probably provided a lot more energy too. Ulquiorra took it with a grateful smile, and Grimmjow speared some "spaghetti." Twirling his fork he said, "Isn't it nice out here with all the frost? It makes everything so cool and sharp."

"Yeah," Ulquiorra said, looking around. Usually any frost would have melted by now, but the sun had yet to touch this side of the hill and the branches were white. The grass looked like a garden of tiny silver swords. Grimmjow flicked the spaghetti on his fork away while Ulquiorra wasn't looking and pretended to be chewing. "It's really peaceful out here, I see why you'd come here to eat."

"It's a lot less noisy," Grimmjow said. "It's good to get away and think." Ulquiorra hummed, and Grimmjow had to get another forkful of spaghetti. "Where do you usually eat?"

"I normally drive to Crave," Ulquiorra said, "but I can't afford to actually eat there so I bring my school lunch."

"Wait, isn't school lunch more expensive?" Grimmjow asked. "You can get a six-dollar burger at Crave, and school lunch is seven-fifty."

"Financial aid," Ulquiorra said, biting into his half a sandwich. Grimmjow gingerly put the spaghetti in his mouth and chewed- it was so rubbery. Ugh. "I get free lunch here."

"Cool," Grimmjow said, forcing the so-called food down his throat with some bile and trying hard not to show how hard he was gagging. He was curious as to why Ulquiorra needed financial help, but he wasn't about to ask. That seemed like it could be a sensitive subject, and Grimmjow didn't want to be nosy. "Have you ever had a burger there?"

"I haven't," Ulquiorra said, and Grimmjow grudgingly reloaded his fork.

"Well, just don't get lunch tomorrow and go over there," he said. "I've been meaning to go there again anyway. I'll front you." Ulquiorra's green eyes got big and wide behind his square glasses, and he waved one hand at him.

"Oh, no, I couldn't!" he said. "That's very nice of you, but I'd feel bad. It's okay, really."

"No, really," Grimmjow insisted, smiling. "If it really bothers you, you can pay me back. But I _am_ buying you one of those burgers. They will blow your mind."

"Grimmjow, honestly, that's very gracious of you but-"

"Then leave it at that," Grimmjow shrugged.

"But-" Ulquiorra said.

"But nothing," Grimmjow cut him off. "You do nice things for people you like. And I like you. I think you're really fun to be around. Now come on, there's only a few minutes 'til class." Ulquiorra stood with Grimmjow.

"Oh, I meant to tell you- I remembered something else significant in _A Farewell to Arms," _ he said. "I though I should come down here and telly ow, since I won't be there after school today. But we got off-topic..." Grimmjow's smile shrunk by a few molars. He should have known Ulquiorra didn't come all the way out here just to talk to him.

"It's cool," Grimmjow said, "just tell me at lunch tomorrow." Ulquiorra gave another adorable smile.

"Okay."

.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.:!:.

Grimmjow burst through to door to his house, letting his backpack fall to the floor as he tottered quickly to the closest trash can.

"Grimmjow?" his mom asked as he passed her. "You alright? You look pretty green."

"I have never been so glad to have your cooking," Grimmjow said fervently, leaning heavily over the sink. "School lunches are nauseating."

And then he barfed.

"When he was done tossing his cookies, his mom patted him on the back and ran him a glass of tap water (which, coincidentally, also washed the stomach acid and chunks of rubber down the drain). Grimmjow took it gratefully and washed out his burning mouth. "So you didn't eat my tuna?" his mom asked.

"I had half and traded the rest for Ulquiorra's lunch," Grimmjow explained. "It was twenty-four shades of disgusting."

"Then why'd you eat it?" his mom asked.

"Well I couldn't let _him_ have it," Grimmjow said, rinsing his mouth out again. "Now I know why he's so skinny; he comes home and everything he ate comes back up."

"I'm sorry, honey," his mom said sympathetically. "You saw Ulquiorra at lunch?"

"Yeah, he came and sat with me," Grimmjow said. "We're going to Crave tomorrow and I'm treating him. You don't have to make me a lunch." His mom blinked her blue eyes, still brilliantly colored despite the crow's feet growing in.

"Sounds like a date," she said, smiling lecherously.

"I'm thinking of it that way," Grimmjow said, used to his family's gossipy nature. "Not sure about Ulquiorra, though."

"Well, congratulations!" his mom giggled. "Your dad'll have a hay day with this when he comes home." Grimmjow groaned. "Well, I don't mean to bring your good mood down, but Zac called today. He said he's been delayed by a little bit because of a sudden assignment, but he should be here about a week later than we were expecting him."

"What kind of assignment?" Grimmjow asked, frowning. He wanted to find the teacher who gave Zac that assignment and threaten him a million ways to Sunday to get him to withdraw it. He'd been looking forward to his brother coming home for months, and he'd planned out what they'd be spending the few days Zac would be here for with Zac's input. It was mostly just playing videogames in the basement, but Grimmjow was still _so_ excited. He adored his brother.

"He didn't say," his mom said. "But he's still coming down, hun. Just wait a little longer. Go upstairs and brush your teeth."

Grimmjow nodded, a little less happy but not crushed. Zac was still coming, and he had lunch with Ulquiorra tomorrow. He was making some headway. He picked himself up and decided to look on the bright side of things, one of his better points in his opinion, and headed upstairs.

"It's cute that you got protective of him!" his mom yelled behind him.

Mothers.


End file.
